RC Bishops: hybrid embryos should have human rights

Briefing. Note that, as with the Church's position on abortion (see Evangelium Vitae 60), the difficult philosophical question of the exact ontological status of different possible embryos is set aside. What the Church teaches, and what all men of good will should recognise by the light of reason, is that these embryos ought to be accorded the same respect as is given to human persons.

From SPUC: The Catholic bishops of England and Wales have said that human-animal hybrid embryos conceived in the laboratory should be regarded as human and their genetic mothers should be able to raise them as their own children if they want to. In a submission to the parliamentary committee on the draft Human Tissue and Embryos Bill, the bishops opposed the creation of an embryo solely for research, but were anxious to limit the destruction of such life once it had been brought into existence. They went on to say that most of the procedures covered by the Bill "should not be licensed under any circumstances" principally on the grounds that they violated human rights. [Daily Telegraph 27 June]